Weekly Comic Reviews for November 11th, 2009

I got nothing. No books came out for me this week which really isn't too surprising. I'm not really too sure what I'm going to blog about when I switch to TPBs. I don't normally like reviewing those and they are months apart. Perhaps I'll try to post more about other comic news and webcomic stuff.

But if you're really desperate for some reviews I did read "I Kill Giants" and "Stitches: A Memoir" recently. And looking back, I wish I had separated them with a few more light hearted books instead of reading them one after the other.

I found with I Kill Giants that it took a few pages before I felt comfortable reading it. It's a little different visually than what I'm used to but it was the word balloons that I found a little challenging, always looking for the little line that indicated who was saying what. Either I adapted or it got better as the book went on. But overall, an extremely moving and compelling story and the art really fit and told the story well. Definitely worth checking out.

Stitches: A Memoir didn't have the dynamic art and layouts of I Kill Giants but told a very personal story in a more straight forward style. The art was more along the lines of storybook illustrations though it did flow rather well. I think this style worked here and anything more "dynamic" just wouldn't have fit. When I was done reading it I had mixed feelings about some things such as wanting to explore certain parts of the story more but I think David Small says it best in the write ups at the end, this is his story. He could have gone more into his mother's story or his father's but I think he's right not to and just leave it to the reader to think about. It's definitely a touching story that plays on many emotions. I'd say this one is worth checking out as well.

I also finally checked out an episode of "Ink: Alter Egos Exposed" and it was interesting. It was about politics in comics. The downside is that there is so much that could be talked about that you only get snippets in the 30 minutes they boil it down to and so much is missed. But on the other hand, they do talk about some interesting stuff that I hadn't heard about (such as Joe Sacco, a journalist who uses comics to report on what's happening). I really want to see the other 9 episodes they did for this show but then again, I can always stand to listen to people talk comics so that's no surprise.

V -- SPOILERS

Finally got around to watching the first episode of V and was pretty disappointed. I thought the acting was good but that was about it. The story didn't really hook me and it felt like they were trying way too hard with the whole "secret terrorist cell" to be relevant to the real world or something. And I found it extremely predictable. All the plot twists (really, how many do you need to throw into the first episode) were pretty transparent early on. Also, how many worm's eye views do you really need? They really seemed to be pushing the whole "Hey, crazy camera angles, that creates drama right?" thing. I really hope it gets better soon but if this what they thought would hook people as their initial episode I'll probably be dropping this show from my watch list pretty quickly.

Weekly Comic Reviews for November 4th, 2009

At home sick today. Nothing serious, I think it's just a combination of several things.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #30 -- Again, not really too thrilled with this issue. And it's the same things, the storytelling aspect just doesn't seem to be executed well. Sometimes it's confusing what's going on, who's talking, and their is just weird times where I'm trying to figure out if I'm missing something. I'm wondering about Twilight mentioning a god almost killing Buffy and her friends only it's not shown until half way through the next page. Can he see the future or something? Overall I've just found this series to be going downhill recently. I'm still hoping things get turned around but we'll see.

One other thing, once Buffy season 8 is over that'll most likely be it for my weekly comic purchasing. If I do decide to buy season 9 it will be through the TPBs so I'd be down to two monthly books at that point (Incredible Hulk and Elephantmen) and I was thinking of going with TPBs on Elephantmen anyways so that would just leave the Incredible Hulk. So long story short, there's no point and I'll be going all TPBs. Perhaps I'll drop by a store to pick up the odd one-shot (though if companies start selling online through Longbox or something else then I won't even do that) but that's about it.

Weekly Comic Reviews for October 28th, 2009 -- SPOILERS

I know, I'm really late with this review. And even now I have to make it quick.

Son of Hulk #16 -- I said in my last review that we seem to be getting dragged very slowly to the final confrontation (or whatever) with Galactus and here we have yet another issue supposedly building up to that. I'm really not into this series at all any more. Characters that I kinda cared about are dead and they just seem to be throwing random characters with no identities into the mix and killing them off. There really doesn't seem to be a strong pull for me to get into the story. If the next issue wasn't the last I would have dropped this series already.

What I've Been Reading

I'll be heading to my comic shop tomorrow. So until here then, here's a list of some of the stuff (TPBs for the most part) I've read over the last while:

All New Savage She-Hulk Vol 1 -- Yeah, I was ticked about the whole canceling She-Hulk and having this series come out using the She-Hulk name but after reading the She-Hulk bits in Incredible Hulk I decided to give it a try. I actually think it's well done and the character is interesting.

Irredeemable Vol 1 -- Better than I was expecting, really good actually. They're doing a good job of the whole "most powerful hero becoming the most evil person on the planet", an idea I initially kinda didn't think was enough of a hook for me.

Umbrella Academy Dallas -- I actually liked this volume more than the first. Somewhat out there but well done.

Wonderful Wizard of Oz -- Beautiful art and more faithful to the book (than the movie). Worth checking out.

Locke & Key Vol 2 -- Took me a bit to get back into it (had to really remind myself of the characters and where they were left off at the end of Volume 1) but some really interesting stuff going on. Definitely looking forward to volume 3.

Peter & Max -- Great novel and a must read for Fables fans. Non-Fables readers can also enjoy it.

No Comic Reviews Yet

Reviews will be delayed again this week until at least the weekend. Sorry but work is kinda nuts right now.

Yay!

Chapter 2 is done!

Weekly Comic Reviews for October 21st, 2009 -- SPOILERS

A little swamped at work at the moment so have to be quick.

Incredible Hulk #603 -- Not a big fan of two artists drawing one book/story, I often find it jarring. This wasn't too bad but still a little jarring. I don't really know much about Dakken and where he stands with Logan at the moment so some of the story was lost on me a bit. The punchline at the end was pretty funny though. The Lyra story was good in giving us some backstory and setting up the climax. All in all, just a good issue, not great.

Dark Reign List the Hulk (or whatever the title is) -- This one I have mixed feelings on. I was going along with it up until the whole Osborn exposing Banner to gamma radiation and thinking that somehow solves his problem. Yeah, I can see that solving his problem with Banner and maybe if Skaar kills the Hulk then maybe, but bringing back the Hulk shouldn't be something even Osborn does lightly. I guess I'll have to see where it goes. Though with the Hulk branching off into World War Hulks, who knows if that's it for this part of the story. We also get a reprint of an Amazing Spider-Man issue (where Green Goblin and Spidey stumble upon a cave that the Hulk is hiding in). It fits with the main story (as it's referenced) but I'm not really a huge fan of adding reprints to a book, it feels like it's being used as justification for the $3.99 price tag.

Elephantmen #22 -- Wasn't a huge fan of the artwork on this one. We spend a lot of time with a confusing conversation between Vanity and a guy I still don't really remember. And then a few other things happen. I normally love this book and I'm eager to see where everything goes but I just couldn't love this issue. It felt pretty jumbled to me.

Well, that's it for this week.